


Take Me Far, Far Away From Here

by pinkevilbob



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Cryogenics, Disabled Character, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22050760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkevilbob/pseuds/pinkevilbob
Summary: The MISTake makes an emergency stop at an old abandoned outpost, and Jester finds something very unexpected.
Relationships: Jester Lavorre/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 32
Kudos: 107





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EyeLoch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EyeLoch/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY EYE!!!!! I probably should've waited to post this, but I have no patience or self control. ...as we can tell by the length of this fic. ...eye gives really good prompts and who am I to say no to dilapidated sci-fi?
> 
> Oh and the title comes from the theme song of Red Dwarf.

Clang! Clunk! RATTLERATTLERATTLE!!! HISSSSSSS!!! “Is the engine supposed to make that kind of noise?” Beau called out.

“Not really!” Jester shouted back. The engine on the MISTake had been on its last legs for a long while, but Jester had always managed to keep it going for one more trip. Though this time, it might be the last one.

Fjord poked his head out of the cockpit. "Well, can you fix it?"

"Kind of? I mean I can keep us from dropping out of space and kind of moving forward," Jester said, "but beyond that we're going to need to get supplies to fix it or yo know, actually get a new engine that works."

"That's out of our budget," Fjord said.

Jester groaned. It was always out of their budget. They ran a bunch of small jobs around the empire, but never seemed to be able to save enough to give the MISTake the upgrades it needed. "Fine, I should be able to get some odds and ends to fix it when we get to Zadash station. We're close right?"

An awkward silence filled the air. "Don't tell me Fjord got us lost again," Nott groaned from the gun turret. "I thought you had Caduceus navigate this time."

"He needed to take care of dinner," Beau said. "And he keeps turning off the maps on accident." Cad was the best cook Jester had ever met who was willing to work on a cramped, barely working ship, but technology was completely lost on the firbolg.

"It will be ready in 15 minutes," Cad called out.

"Why can't we just talk in the same room like normal people?!"

Jester shrugged. "I've been meaning to add in some com channels, but first I need a new engine."

"I know, I know." Fjord sighed. "We're close to an old outpost. It looks like it still has life support there, so we can dock there and it might even have the supplies we need."

"And if it doesn't, we can at least get out of this bucket," Nott said, and Jester had to agree. As much as she loved traveling around the galaxy with her friends, getting out of the ship was always a treat.

Normally, they would've gotten there in under an hour, but with the engine trouble, it nearly five hours to get to the outpost and Jester was ready to scream from pent up energy. She could not get out of the MISTake fast enough once they docked. Looking around, the outpost appeared to be completely abandoned. There was a little automated shop though. It had a little green screen that was grainy with a still image of a Firbolg on it. Words scrolled on the bottom of the screen. "Welcome to the Invulnerable Vagrant. I am Pumat Sol. It's a pleasure to help you."

Nott whistled. "They got an old Pumat AI still? This place must've been pretty fancy."

"Yeah 200 years ago," Beau said. "No one uses those anymore."

“Maybe the prices are out of date and we can actually afford an engine?” Jester paused. “No actually, if they did the engine wouldn’t even work anymore.”

Fjord examined it. “The tech’s old, but the prices sure ain’t.” He winced as he clicked through the price listings. “Not that there’s much to choose from here. Maybe you could find what you need just lying about?”

Jester saluted Fjord. “Aye aye, captain.”

“Be sure to take a buddy,” Cad said in his soft low rumble.

“Nott! This is a job for true detectives!” Jester struck what she thought was an impressive pose and then took Nott’s hand.

The outpost was unbelievably old, but it didn’t feel haunted, just a little lonely and quiet. Like it was waiting for someone. Though really outposts and stations were just buildings, so really they couldn’t feel anything, but Jester thought that if they could, this one would be looking for a friend.

“So what are we looking for?” Nott asked.

“A metal tube thingy, some more bolts the size of your pinky, and a 5 cm thick metal sheet.” The exact materials would be better, but Jester had learned to do without after traveling so long with her friends.

Nott nodded. “Got it!”

Their footsteps echoed through the halls of the old outpost. It must've been abanodned for over a hundred years judging by the dust. There was something unsettling about it all. Jester didn't like it, but her and Nott were the most likely ones to find what they needed there. "I wonder what this place used to be," Jester said looking around.

"Most likely a scientific research station of some sort," Nott said.

"You think so?"

Nott nodded. "I've seen this sort of thing before. The rooms are more like dorms and there's not a lot of recreation options here, so that tells us that this wasn't meant for long terms of habitation," she explained. "So they probably just finished their research, but didn't see much point in packing up everything they had here."

"Oh, okay. So that means there might be a good chance of finding what we need here," Jester said relieved that they weren't just looking around the pooky halls for nothing. "So we just need to find where the labs are."

"Exactly," Nott said.

They picked up the pace as they wandered through the halls. It all looked the same until they reached the end of the hall and found a giant lab. Jester gasped at it. She never seen so much loose tech before. Almost none of it was bolted down. "This is the motherload." Her mind raced at how much money they make with just one haul. "We wouldn't even be able to fit it all in our hull."

"They were planning on coming back," Nott said looking around. "They wouldn't have left all of this if they were leaving for good."

"Why do you think they never came back?" Jester asked looking around the room. In the back of the room was a room of giant glass tubes. Most were opened.

Nott shrugged. "No idea. Could've been during the first Dynasty war. A lot of stuff got abandoned back then."

Jester examined the glass tubes. They were big enough for her to fit in. Actually, even Cad could fit in them. The ones that weren't opened were cracked and filled with some kind of gunk. Except for one. "Oh, there's something in this one." She rubbed the glass with her sleeve removing the dust and dirt and gasped. "There's someone in this one!"

"What?!" Nott rushed over. "What is he doing there?"

"He almost looks like he's sleeping," Jester said. He was thin and pale with long thick eyelashes. His hair was a rusty auburn. There was a sad beauty to him. "Do, do you think he might be dead?"

Nott backed away from the tube. "I don't know. If he were here all this time, he should be, but maybe he got trapped. Maybe all those tubes are traps."

"Can you run a scan on them?" Jester asked.

Nott already had her scanner out and was reading the ticker tape it spat out. "No traps, but he is alive."

Jester stared at the man sleeping in the tube. She had so many questions about him, but there didn't seem to be any point in asking them. There was no levers or control panel and Jester couldn't see any cracks or openings for it. "I wonder what he's like," she said, placing her hand on the glass.

A hum echoed throughout the room and the glass heated up under Jester's hand. She pulled it back hissing from the heat of it. The hum grew louder as the tube opened and a fog rolled out of it. The man still stood there seemingly asleep, but then began coughing. He leaned forward losing his balance and Jester caught him.

"Are you okay?" Jester asked.

He kept coughing so hard Jester was afraid that he would hurt himself. Carefully, Jester set him down so that he was sitting down on the ground. His coughing fit fading, he looked up at Nott and Jester a fear in his eyes, and said something in a language Jester never heard before.

"I don't think he speaks common," Nott said looking a little disappointed.

Jester pulled out her water flask and gave it to the man and he took a sip from it still coughing a little, but not as hard as he had been earlier. "Common?" the man said with a heavy accent. "What language is common?"

"Um, the language you're speaking now is common," Jester pointed out.

He frowned. "No, this is tal’dorian. It's not even the most common language in the galaxy."

Nott frowned and looked over at Jester. "No, it’s the most common language there is. Everyone speaks it. What do you think is the most common language?"

"Zemnian, of course," the man said. "We’re even in the Zemnian Territories."

Jester shook her head. "No, this is the Dwendalian Empire. Nobody's spoken Zemnian in like forever and the territories fell apart back in the big war."

"Big war? What are you talking about?"

"The big war. Well the first big war. The one that the Dwendalian empire was born from," Nott said. "It changed the whole galaxy."

The man held his head in his hands. "How long has it been? What year is it?"

"836 PD," Jester said. She frowned at him. "Um, what year do you think it is?"

"653 PD," he said.

Nott whistled. "That's a long time."

"Ja, ja it is," the man said.

Jester bit her lip. "So um, why are you not dead?"

"Cryogenic freezing," he said, "I was supposed to be in there for just a few weeks. He said it would just be three weeks. It was just a test run. Something happened. Do you know what?"

Jester and Nott shook their heads. "No, we were wondering the same ourselves," Nott said.

"Our ship just landed here to see if we could get the stuff he needed to fix our engine," Jester said and then she stopped herself gasping. "We forgot to introduce ourselves! I'm Jester and this is Nott."

"Nott the Brave," Nott added.

The man stared at them for a second. "Caleb Widogast."

Jester grinned. "Nice to meet you Caleb!"

“Ja, it’s nice to meet you too,” Caleb said, though he didn’t look happy to meet them. He just looked vaguely sad. Now that he was out of the tube, Jester could tell that he was wearing some kind of pajamas. Also that he smelled.

“Can you step back?” Jester said. “You smell really bad.”

Caleb tried to stand up, but ended up falling to his knees. "I'm still weak from my freeze. I'm sorry."

Jester sighed. "It's okay, I can lift you even if you're super stinky." She scooped up Caleb in her arms and he let out a little yelp of surprise.

"Sorry," Caleb said his cheeks blushing. "I just wasn't expecting that."

"No one expects the Mighty!" Jester shouted.

Nott nodded. "Yeah!"

"I can see that," Caleb said. "You said your engine needed fixing, so you have a ship?"

"That's right," Nott said. "Jester's our mechanic and I'm the gunner."

Caleb frowned mouthing the word. "I don't know what you mean."

"I shoot the guns. The artillery? You know? Ratatatatatatatata pew pew bang!" Nott made an exploding sound.

"Oh right. There was no guns on civilians ships," Caleb said. "Are you military?"

Jester shook her head. "Nope, it's safer to have guns than not. There's a lot of pirates out in the galaxy nowadays."

"Oh." Caleb was giving it some thought when his breast pocket shivered and something rolled out of it. A small ball that was a little bit bigger than Nott’s fist rolled around Caleb's chest and up his arm.

Jester gasped. "What is that?"

"Frumpkin. My pet." And for once Caleb smiled. Frumpkin clicked and whirled and changed form into a little mechanical cat and that rubbed it's head against Caleb's cheek.

"He's amazing," Jester whispered.

Nott looked at it thoughtfully. "We could get some good money out of it. You don't see robots as sophisticated as that anymore."

Caleb held Frumpkin in his hands protectively. "He's not for sale. Besides, he's just a pet, a bobble. He's nothing fancy or special."

"A hundred plus years ago sure," Nott said. "But everything's been turned to war efforts. You don't get anything that nice that's just for fun." Frumpkin by himself was easily worth three engines.

"He's not for sale," Caleb said firmly.

Jester nodded gently to Caleb. "That's right, we won't sell him. There's enough tech in here to more than make up for keeping him. Unless we can't sell that either."

Caleb looked around. "Nein. This is just lab equipment. But I want to look at it before you sell any of it. Maybe it can tell me just what happened here. I don't see why the station would've been abandoned. Especially without waking me up."

"Oh." Jester couldn't help but feel bad for Caleb. He had been left behind, completely forgotten. "Well, you can join us then."

Nott frowned. "Do you think that Fjord would agree to this?"

Jester avoided looking at Nott. "Well, it's not like we can leave Caleb here. Besides, maybe he can be helpful."

"I can help you find the supplies here. If they didn't take the lab supplies, they probably wouldn't have taken the spare parts either," Caleb said.

“Then lead the way!”

* * *

Nott and Jester were definitely an unusual pair. Caleb didn’t know what Jester was, but Nott was obviously a goblin. Jester’s species must’ve been one that joined the territories, no empire now, after Caleb was put into the cryogenic freezer. She insisted on carrying him like a princess despite him insisting that his freeze weakness was temporary. Or at least Caleb hoped it was.

Caleb was the first humanoid test of cryogenic freezing. Before him, they tried it on a pair of cats for a couple of days. Both came out of the freezing fine, but both were weak and tired for a couple of hours. He had no idea what over a hundred years in the freezing tube would do to someone. So far he had a persistent cough, a weird numb feeling to his legs, and he had trouble moving them.

Maybe Caleb should question Nott and Jester more, but they seemed honest and the decay of the station backed them up. It was strange to see it all in such a state of disrepair. The Soltryce Station had once been a jewel in the territories’ crown. A state of the art science facility. And now it was just junk covered in dust.

“Which way do we go?” Jester asked when they got to a split in the hallway.

"That w-"Caleb started coughing again and Jester readjusted him patting his back. His coughing shook his everything and he just wished that it would stop.

Nott stood on her tiptoes staring at him. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

"Ja," Caleb said coughing a bit more. "I'm fine. It's this way." He pointed to the left."

"If you need us to stop so you can rest, that's okay," Jester said.

Caleb shook his head. "Nein, I'm good. Once we're away from all this dust, I'll be fine. You shouldn't worry about me so much."

"Okay, but I don't think that cough sounds good. I'm kinda the ship doctor with Cad, so you should listen to me," Jester said. And for a seemingly light hearted person, she sounded incredibly serious.

"We need to get your supplies, ja? Then let's keep going. It's not that far from here." Caleb was grateful that that was the truth. If he was being honest, he was exhausted and just wanted to sleep for real, but they needed to take care of this and Caleb needed to prove his worth.

They reached the warehouse with Nott exclaiming a curse. "This is a scrapper's wet dream."

Jester turned in a circle taking it all in. "They might have exactly what I need."

"The station was on the cutting edge, but repairs are always needed. But it's fine," Caleb said. "I don't think that anyone will notice anything missing."

Jester giggled. "Um, is it okay if I put you down?"

"Ja, I'm fine on my own," Caleb said. It was comfortable in her arms, but he would never admit it out loud. Besides, he preferred taking care of himself.

Gently and slowly, Jester set Caleb on the ground. "Okay, so if you need anything, let me know. I'm just getting what we need for the engine."

"Alright."

"Jester! Check this out!" Nott shouted from the aisles of hardware and tools.

"Coming!" Jester yelled running towards Nott.

Once alone, Caleb tried to stand up. Jester left him by a wall, so he leaned against it for support. "Ein, zwei, drei," he whispered to himself and then tried to stand, but nothing happened. His legs remained in the position Jester left him in. He moved his legs with his hands and tried again. Caleb remained on the floor. Cursing to himself, he tried for a third time, and for the third time, he was still on the floor. "%^&$!!!!!"

"Caleb!" Jester came running and nearly slipped getting to him. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Hot shame burned on his cheeks. "I couldn't get up."

"Here, I got you." Jester moved to pick him up.

"No." Caleb tried to move away, but he couldn't. "I'm sorry. I can't stand up." It was humiliating to admit it. He felt so broken, but Jester just looked at him with gentle understanding.

"Oh right, you were saying that it takes a while to warm up after being frozen. I'm sorry that it's taking so long," Jester said. "Do you want to wait a bit longer before we go back to the ship?"

The offer was tempting, but Caleb shook his head. "You go on ahead without me. You need to fix your engine. I'll catch up with you two once I'm ready to get up."

Jester frowned. "Cay-leb, we can't just leave you alone here. What if the station's haunted?"

"I can wait with him," Nott said.

"You don't need to. It's better if you two stay together since you don't know this station well," Caleb said. "I'm fine by myself."

Nott shook her head. "It's fine. I've got this." She pressed something on her wrist. "Hey, Beau? Can you send Cad and Fjord back here? We need some help. Youcanreplytothismessage."

The little wrist communicator crackled. "Why? ...Yeah I'll send them."

"It's a left, straight and a left at the third hall," Nott said to the communicator. "Oh and have Cad bring the med scanner."

"Med scanner? Nott, what happened? Did you blow up Jes-" the communicator crackled out as Nott turned it off.

Caleb stared at it. "Kinda clunky."

"Well, not all of us are from the golden age of tech," Nott said. "Is it true that they use to use star radiation to clear asteroid fields?"

"I guess? I never really paid attention to that side of things," Caleb admitted. "I was more on the theoretical side of things. Physics and the like."

Jester sat down next to Caleb and leaned forward. "What was it like living in the past?"

"I never considered it the past. Not until I woke today," Caleb said. "And I don't know what things are like for you now." Frumpkin spun slowly in his hands giving him something to focus on rather than his rising panic.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Jester frowned and then perked up. "Oh, oh I can tell you all about what the future is like and our ship."

Caleb smiled weakly. "I'd like that."

Jester began to paint a picture of a junky old ship with Nott occasionally interjecting. It sounded like a cramp and miserable living space, but Jester smiled widely and Nott got excited while talking about her tiny gun port.

The sounds of footsteps interrupted them, and a half orc entered the room followed by a fuzzy giant. "What did you do this time, Nott?" the half orc groaned.

"Nothing! Really, Fjord, you act like I'm the one that pressed a random red button and nearly blew us up," Nott said and Fjord, the half-orc, looked away awkwardly. "The med scans not for us, it's for Caleb."

Fjord jumped back when he noticed Caleb. "Who is that? There's people here?"

"Just me," Caleb said. He was trying not to stare, but his eyes kept wandering to the giant.

The giant smiled down at Caleb. “The name’s Caduceus Clay and that’s Fjord. Nice to meet you.”

“Caleb Widogast. The pleasure’s all mine,” Caleb said nervously.

Caduceus smiled again. Smiling seemed to come easy to him. “Now what seems to be the problem?”

“I … fell. It must’ve hurt my back.” Caleb ignored Jester and Nott staring at him. He couldn’t help that Nott and Jester knew that he was cryogenically frozen for over 100 years, but that was information he wanted to keep quiet. In the wrong hands, it could be very dangerous information. “I’m … having trouble standing up.”

“Let me just give you a quick scan.” Caduceus swept an old looking scanner over Caleb. It beeped and whirred while Caduceus stared at it. “Huh, this doesn’t make sense.”

Jester looked over his shoulder. “What doesn’t?”

“Says here a bundle of nerves got frozen in his spinal cord and that’s what’s stopping him from getting up.But that doesn’t make sense if he fell,” Caduceus said.

“Oh,” Jester said, “it must be on the fritz again. I’ll see if I can fix it on the ship.”

Caleb tried to keep calm, but he didn’t like the sound of frozen nerves. “If that thing were right, what would happen? Would the nerves just unfreeze and get better?”

Caduceus stared blankly at Caleb while Jester bit her lip. “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of nerves freezing to such an extent,” Jester said. “And well, there may be more damage done to them than just that.”

“But you just had a fall,” Caduceus said. He was hard to read, but Caleb had a feeling that he knew more than he was letting on.

“Ja, just a fall,” Caleb said.

Jester clapped her hands catching everyone’s attention. “Okay, so I still need to find one last thing for the engine and then I can go fix it. Fjord and Cad can help me carry everything I need and Nott can wait with Caleb while I fix the engine.”

Part of Caleb wanted to argue that he didn’t need to rest or be watched, but he knew that no one would listen to him. He just remained silent as Nott sat down next to him while the other three went to work. The two of them sat in companionable silence and watched the other three go about their business and then leave.

"I get it, you know," Nott said interrupting their silence. She sat with her knees to her chest and she hugged them close to herself. "Not wanting people to know about your past. Where you came from. I get it."

"Ja?" Caleb glanced at her and then went back to staring ahead of them.

She made a sound of agreement. "A lot of us on the MISTake have pasts we aren't ready to share. I mean Cad and Jester don't, they're both open books, but the rest of us. We get it. They might not admit it, but it's hard to share those sort of things."

"Ja, it is."

"So, you thinking about joining us?" Nott asked.

Caleb stared down at his legs. "I don't have much to offer you."

"Well, neither does Fjord, but he's our captain. Besides you must be pretty smart to be a physicist."

"I'm not that smart. I just studied hard. I read a lot. That's not talent," Caleb said.

"Keeping it all in your head is," Nott said. "My ... friend was the same way."

Caleb looked over at Nott. She was fiddling with the buttons on her dress. “Do, do you miss your friend?” He kicked himself as soon as he said it. It was obviously something she didn’t want to talk about.

“Sometimes.” Nott kept fiddling with the button. “But working on the MISTake helps distract me from that.”

“You don’t want me to be part of your crew,” Caleb said. “Not really.”

Nott shrugged. “Maybe, but that’s up to us to decide. You’re going to need a ride out of here anyways and it’s not like this is on a shuttle route.”

“I can’t pay for it,” Caleb said feeling useless. “You could use the space I take up to load up with stuff you can sell.”

“And never be forgiven by Jester. I don’t think I’d forgive myself either ditching you here,” Nott said. “Maybe there’s something you can help with on the ship.”

Caleb gave it some thought. “I can navigate a little. Unless maps have changed.”

Nott leaned forward. “Are you kidding me? You could be working off a 3,000 year old map and still be better than we got.”

“Then I guess you have a navigator.” A little weight lifted from his shoulders. Caleb would be able to earn his way to a populated station, then slip away into it and figure out what had happened while he was asleep. Jester and Nott seemed nice, but they knew too much and he didn’t know enough. And they didn’t deserve to put up with him. This was going to work.

* * *

When Jester went back to check on Caleb and Nott, the two of them were napping, leaning against each other. It was so cute Jester was almost tempted to leave them there, but she had fixed the engine already and Beau, Cad, and Fjord had loaded up the hull with as much tech as they could fit. So everyone was itching to get off the outpost.

“I’ll take Caleb and you get Nott,” Jester whispered to Cad.

Nott stirred a little when Cad picked her up, but settled back to sleep in his arms. The little goblin did so much for the crew and Jester knew that she didn't sleep much, so she was glad to see her sleeping.

Jester grabbed Caleb only for him to struggle. "Caleb, Caleb," Jester said shaking his shoulder. "It's just me. Jester."

Caleb's eyes snapped open and he stared at her for a moment before blinking. "Oh Jester. I'm sorry. I almost thought this was all a dream."

"It'd be a pretty weird one if it was," Jester said. "Oh! We're about to go, but before we do, where's your room? I can go get your stuff."

Caleb frowned. "Oh, I don't have anything. We can just go."

"I don't mind. It's okay."

Caleb stared at Cad waiting by the door waiting for Jester and Caleb. "None of it would've survived so long. I got Frumpkin. That's all I need."

"Oh, right Jester said. "So um, can I pick you up or can you stand up now?"

He frowned concentrating before shaking his head. “I still can’t get up. Could you?”

“Sure,” Jester said with a smile. It was getting easier and more familiar to carry Caleb around. If Jester was being honest, she'd say that she kinda liked carrying him and feeling his warmth in her arms. But Caleb probably didn't want to hear that. "So, we'll take you to the MISTake and show you around and then you can take another nap if you'd like."

Caleb shook his head. "Nott said you needed a navigator. I'm not the best at it, but I can set course for you once we get in."

"Really? That'd be super good since we're kinda desperate for one." Jester caught up to Cad and went through the halls. "Are you going to miss this, Caleb?"

"Not really. It was always supposed to be a temporary home."

* * *

Caleb stared at the hunk of junk that Jester called a ship. "What's wrong with it?"

"What do you mean?" Jester asked.

"It's all rusted and barely hanging on together. I've never seen a ship in worse repair." Caleb waved at it. "This is barely even junk scrap."

Beau snorted. "It's not that bad. And it's the only option you got."

"Not that bad? It’s a junk heap. If this is not that bad, I'd hate to see what bad looks like," Claeb said.

"Um, Caleb? This actually counts as half decent," Jester said, keeping her voice low enough so that only Caleb could hear her. "It's not shiny, but it flies and really that's kinda the only option we got nowadays. Most ships are kinda junky."

Caleb looked around to see Beau and Fjord staring at him like they were mentally weighing him. It hadn’t even been a day and already Caleb was showing how much he didn’t belong. He took a deep breath calming himself down. All the more proof that he had to go on his own once they docked at a populated station. “Oh right. Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend.” Beau still was giving him a strange look.

Jester adjusted her grip on Caleb. "Come on, I'll show you inside. It's pretty neat. You're going to love it."

"Ja, sounds great.," Caleb said. He wasn't sure about it, but he was given a free ride and it sounded like there wasn't going to be any other options.

It became apparent very quickly that the MISTake was not meant to hold five people, let alone six. True Nott was very small, but Caduceus was enormous. There were four bunks built into the walls of the hall and an over-sized hammock hanging free in the middle of the hall. "That's where Cad sleeps," Jester explained. "He doesn't fit in a bunk. And over there's the med bay." Med bay was a glorified term for what was best described as a first aid kit in closet form.

Caleb was about to ask about it when he started another coughing fit.

"Caleb!" Jester squeaked. This was easily his 20th one, yet Jester still worried over each one. She rushed him to the med bay.

Caleb held up a hand. "I'm fine, Jester." He coughed more before the fit cleared.

Jester pulled down a seat out of the wall and set Caleb down on it. "Try coughing again," Jester said pressing some device against Caleb's chest.

"You don't have to do this," Caleb said. "It's just a cough."

"A cough that can be part of something more serious. Please, can you try coughing for me?" Jester eyes were so big and soft, Caleb couldn't say no to her.

He let out a hacking wheeze. "Is that good?"

Jester frowned at the device. "It says you have something in your lungs, but I have no way of telling what it is."

“Oh probably the sol-” Caleb stopped when he noticed Beau standing at the doorway.

“Hi Beau! Do you need anything?” Jester asked cheerfully.

Beau stared down Caleb. "Just grabbing some bandages."

"Oh, let me get those for you." Jester hopped up and slid open a cupboard grabbing a wrap of bandages. "Do you need anything else?"

"Nah. So what do you think of our 'junk heap'?" Beau asked Caleb.

Caleb looked down. "It's a good ship, I'm sure. Nott said you needed a navigator? I can get started right away."

"Yeah. We all kinda suck at it," Beau said with a shrug.

Jester scooped up Caleb again without even asking, but he didn’t entirely mind it. Her arms were strong. "Let me show you the cockpit. It's our pit of cocks." She giggled and Caleb had to fight back a snort. It was a little tricky going to the cockpit since it was up a ladder, so Jester had to swing Caleb over her shoulder.

The cockpit wasn't very impressive though the fact that they could fit more than three people in it at once was quite a feat. There were three seats in it with all sorts of buttons and switches on it. It was the same set up that Caleb was used to seeing on control panels. In fact, Caleb was pretty certain he had been in the same kind of ship as this before. "How old is this thing?" Caleb asked.

"Nearly 180 years old," Jester said. "So not that old. And she's held up pretty good."

"Ah." Caleb's mind started to race. How could a ship so old still be in working condition? Though it sounded like old ships were quite common, but it made no sense. Was there some technological break down? No advancements in any of the technological based fields? That would explain why they were so excited by all the abandoned lab equipment. But the question was once again, what happened?

Fjord sat in the pilot's seat. "Are you sure that he can navigate this for us?"

Beau snorted. "Anything would be better than our current system." She stood outside of the cockpit giving them more room.

"Here, Caleb," Jester said cheerful as she put him down in the navigator's chair. "This will be where you work."

Caleb looked at the map frowning. None of the names on it looked even slightly familiar. "Where is it that we're going?"

"Zadash," Fjord said.

Caleb looked back down at the screen and found it relatively quick, but it didn't make sense. Zadash sat where Rexxentrum should've been. "This map is recent, ja?"

"Why would we give you an old map? We're not that backwards," Beau said.

"Nein, nein, this is fine. Just, I've been on the station for a long time and didn't know if the maps have been updated yet," Caleb said.

"Last update was five months ago," Fjord said.

Caleb nodded still staring at the map. So much of his old life had been renamed and claimed by people not even born yet when he went to sleep. It was hard to take in. "Right, the best route would be," he said and then paused noticing something on the map. "Did you realize that this is a quarantine zone?" He had heard of Ikithon considering using a quarantine to hide important locations, but Caleb hadn’t realized that this included the station.

Fjord went pale. “What?”

“See, the symbols for quarantine are all over the place here.” Caleb pointed at the map. “That would explain why no one had looted here before.” And why no one had found him.

“And your cough,” Jester said her blue skin turning pale.

Caleb sunk down. “It’s not like that at all.”

“Are you telling me that we got typhoid Mary on our ship?” Beau demanded.

“It’s just something stuck in my lungs,” Caleb said. “I’ll be-” Another coughing fit came over him.

Jester patted Caleb’s back hard. “I did scan his lungs and nothing came up except for something in his lungs, but no sign of infectious disease.”

“There,” Caleb coughed more. “There was a hiding protocol.” He wheezed catching his breath. “For the outpost. The quarantine may be part of that.”

“But we have no way of knowing,” Fjord sagged down in the captain’s chair.

Caleb sighed. “If there was any disease, the quarantine would’ve ended years ago.”

“What makes you say that?” Beau asked.

“Because the quarantine began approximately 182 years ago. See, the symbols are universal, but the coding here is in old Zemnian. I don’t know what’s being used now, but in Zemnian, these numbers show when it began. The 16th of Thunsheer 654 PD.” A year after Caleb had been put into the cryofreezer. “I don’t know of any diseases that can survive that long without any carriers.”

Jester clapped her hands. “Then everything’s going to be okay.”

Beau scowled. “How did you get there?”

“What?” Caleb asked.

“An outpost in the middle of nowhere quarantined, and you stuck there with no ship,” Beau said.

Fjord nodded getting up. “That is mighty suspicious.”

“I was abandoned there,” Caleb said, leaking out just enough truth to be believable. “I had a disagreement with my mentor and he left me there.”

“But why were you there in the first place if it was quarantined?” Fjord rested a hand on his blaster.

Beau entered the cockpit. “Nobody speaks Zemnian anymore, but you act like it’s what you’re used to. There’s something off with your story.”

Jester stepped forward. “He doesn’t have to tell you if he doesn’t want to.”

“Look I’m all for privacy and secrets and s%$^ on this ship, but there’s a limit,” Fjord said. “We don’t know if we can trust him.”

"I can't even stand up on my own. What could I do?" Caleb said.

Beau snorted. "For all we know, you're faking it. Or maybe you are contagious after all."

Caleb scowled at her. "All I want is to get to the closest station, so I can hitch a ride as far from here as possible, that's all."

"He's not doing any of this on purpose," Jester said.

"And how do you know that?" Fjord asked. "Jes, I know you think that the world is all soft and safe, but you need to think. He could be manipulating you."

Jester's hands balled up into fists and she bit her lip. She looked like she was close to crying.

"He's not," Nott yawned as she scurried up the ladder. "And he doesn't have to tell you anything."

"And why is that?" Fjord demanded.

Nott rolled her eyes. "Cause he told Jester and me enough."

"And we're supposed to listen to your judge of character?" Beau asked. "It's not like you're the most forthcoming person either."

"I trust him," Cad said from the bottom of the stairs.

Fjord eased up and removed his hand from the blaster. "You sure?"

"Yeah, he's a good one. Not the most open, but most aren't." The giant smiled at Caleb. "When you're done here you should try some tea."

Fjord looked over at Beau and shrugged. "He passes the Cad test."

Beau scowled at him, "And that's enough for you?"

"It is for now," Fjord said. "Besides, it's not like he's going to stay here forever. Just until the next station."

Nott and Jester frowned at this and Caleb had to look away. He just had to keep reminding himself that it was all for the best. This wasn't his place.

* * *

"Oh!" Jester said excitedly after tea with Cad. "We have to decide which bunk is yours!"

"But you only have four bunks," Caleb said, "and there's five of you."

Jester nodded. "Well, yeah, but Cad has the hammock, so you don't need to worry about him. And Nott is super small."

"I usually bunk up with Jester when we have extra crew," Nott said. She glanced over at Caleb and then diverted her gaze.

Caleb shook his head. "You don't need to. Not for me. I can just sleep in a chair."

Jester pouted. "Caleb! You won't get better sleeping in a chair. You need proper sleep in a proper bunk. Besides, me and Nott don't mind. It's like a slumber party."

"I don't want to be a burden."

Jester had to fight back a groan. "It's not a burden. You're our new friend, and friends help each other."

"You just met me." Caleb looked around before continuing. "And I'm lying to the rest of your crew. You really can't mean it."

“Why not?” Jester asked tilting her head.

Caleb’s cheeks turned red. “Because, you don’t know if I’m worth it. And I’m not.”

“I don’t think that’s up for you to decide, Caleb,” Jester said.

“Yeah, we already like you,” Nott added.

Jester’s arms were full with Caleb otherwise she’d boop his nose. “Yep, it’s already too late.”

Caleb frowned. “This is more kindness than I know what to do with.”

“You’ll learn,” Jester said with a smile.

* * *

When traveling through the galaxy and the great expanses thereof, life tends to fall into a routine. An incredibly boring routine. Jester would help Caleb out of his bunk and then take him the the incredibly crowded kitchen/dining room where Caduceus had made breakfast(what any meal was made of, Caleb had no clue and he was afraid to ask). Then she or Caduceus would carry Caleb to the cockpit where Caleb took care of navigation. It was mostly just double checking things and correcting the course as needed. After that, it was time for a nap. His cough had gone away, but he still needed a lot of sleep. Caduceus and Jester had said that it was his body healing, but Caleb couldn't help but wonder if his body was struggling with shaking off the cryo freeze. He was ready be finished with it. After a nap, it was time for lunch and then Jester or Cad would help him with exercises that were supposed to help Caleb with regaining his ability to walk, but so far it didn't seem to help. Finally, it was time for dinner and then sleep.

After two weeks of it, Caleb was ready to scream. They were getting close to Zadash and then Caleb could finally go off and disappear. What he'd do after that he wasn't certain, but he just wanted to find some forgotten corner of the galaxy. "When will we get there?" Beau asked.

"Two more days barring any breakdowns," Caleb said.

Beau groaned. "This is taking forever. I wish we could just use teleporters."

Caleb paused. He'd never heard of such technology existing, but it could've been developed after he was frozen. Jester and Nott had been helping him catch up with what was new in the world, but there was just so much to go over. "Those don't exist,” he said, hoping to keep his uncertainty out of his voice.

"I know, but it would be a whole lot faster that this bucket of bolts," Beau said.

"I thought that this was actually a decent ship," Caleb pointed out.

Beau shook her head. "Not after being trapped in here for two weeks, it's not. This ship sucks and so does everyone on it."

"Jester doesn't suck!" Caleb said louder than he had meant to. He could feel his cheeks turning red. "And neither does Nott. Or Cad."

"Hey, what about me and Fjord?"

Caleb shrugged. "Fjord's okay, I suppose, but you stole my toast."

"You weren't eating it," Beau said.

"I was saving it for last." Caleb shook his head.

Beau rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows that you start with toast."

"Nein, you save the best part for last."

Beau punched him lightly on the arm. "I'm gonna miss ya, you know. We could really use you as a navigator."

Caleb rubbed his arm. "I don't want to be a burden. You're crowded as it is."

"And we'd be crowded with any other navigator too," Beau said.

Caleb sighed shaking his head. "I'm just a burden. Jester and Cad spend too much time on me."

Beau shrugged. "It gives them something to do. Jester would miss you."

"Ja?"

"Yeah, same with Nott. They like having the extra playmate."

Caleb frowned. "They're hardly children and neither am I."

"Yeah, but maybe you should think it over," Beau said. "We could use somebody like you on the ship, and we're already used to you."

"I thought you didn't trust me," Caleb said.

Beau stood up. "Nah, but it's not like I trust anyone on this ship. Especially after 2 weeks. So, um, think about it." She left the cockpit.

Caleb sat there thinking about what Beau said. Staying would've been easy. Not having to find a new ship that would let him on or having to figure out how he'd pay for it. But life was never going to be easy, especially for him. He'd figure out a new life away from the MISTake. There wasn't any other option.

* * *

They were going to reach Zadash station in less than an hour, and Jester felt sick to her stomach. Caleb was going to leave that day and she didn’t want to see him go. Sure he could be dour and a bit of a grumpy-puss, but then he’d laugh at one of her pranks, listen to her talk, or just be her friend. Not that the rest of the crew weren’t her friends, but Caleb felt special, different. He always appreciated what she did for him and even praised her for her strength and abilities. So it hurt to see him go.

Jester wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Nott had grown a special friendship with Caleb as well, and Beau had declared that he didn’t suck. Cad said something about Caleb having potential, but he said that sort of thing all the time. Even Fjord was sad about the idea of losing their new navigator. The only question was if Caleb was sad that he’d be leaving.

“Have you ever been there before?” Jester asked as she helped Caleb with his stretches.

“To Zadash when it was Rexxentrum? Ja, it was the jewel of the empire. I went to the royal academy there. Finest school for the sciences ever,” Caleb said. He leaned forward trying to touch his toes.

Jester frowed and readjusted his feet. “Did you like it there?”

Caleb shrugged. “It was school. I went there and I learned. And I loved every second there. Kind of thought I’d become a teacher there.”

“Yeah?” Jester never seen him look so happy talking about the past. “Well, maybe you still can.”

Another shrug as he came up from his stretch. “My knowledge is a bit out of date now.”

“Oh. Well, are you excited to see how everything that changed since you last were in Zadash?” Jester asked.

Caleb shook his head going back down to stretch reaching for his toes. “Not really. It kind of turned sour in the end for me. And it’s-” He didn’t finish the thought.

“Intimidating? Scary? Weird?” Jester suggested.

“Ja, weird,” Caleb said. “I never expected to go back there.”

Jester tilted her head. “Why not?” She pushed down a little on his back straightening it.

He sighed. “Things happened since I left there the first time. Life got complicated.”

“Well, we’ll be with you. If you want us to that is,” Jester said. “I know that you’re going to leave the ship and strike out on your own, but we can hang out while you find a new place for yourself and we can show you around since stuff has changed so much since you went to sleep. You’ll love it.”

A sad smile crossed Caleb’s face. “You’ve already done too much for me.”

“Not really. You’ve been a lot of help with navigating and I think that Nott really needed a friend like you.”

“You really think so?” Cale asked.

Jester nodded. “Yeah! I think she gets lonely sometimes and I don’t always have the time to play with her and I’m not always what she needs. But maybe you are.”

Caleb shook his head the smallest amount. “Nein, nobody needs me.”

“I do,” Jester said the words coming out before she could even think. “I mean, we need you. None of us are any good at navigating and you’re really smart.”

“So is Nott, and Fjord and Beau aren’t that dumb either,” Caleb said.

Jester frowned as she helped Caleb into his next position. “Well, yeah, but,” she paused. She didn’t know what to say. The idea of Caleb leaving just made her heart feel so incredibly lonely. “I’ll miss you.”

Caleb stared at her and his cheeks turned the faintest shade of pink. “I’ll miss you too. Maybe we can write each other?”

“Like pen pals? Do you really want to?” Jester asked leaning forward her tail wagging about.

“Ja, of course I do,” Caleb said.

Jester grinned and held out her pinky finger. “Okay, we’re penpals. Now we need to pinkie swear on it.”

Caleb stared at her extended pinkie and then slowing smile. “Alright then.” He linked his pinkie with hers.

“Pen pal promise!” Jester let go of their grip. “I’ll message you every day! Or as many days as I can.”

“I will too,” Caleb said softly.

It didn’t do much to dispel the lonely feeling in her stomach, but it helped some. After all, Caleb still wanted to be her friend.

* * *

Caleb had nothing to pack up since he owned nothing except for the clothes on his back and Frumpkin. Not that he minded or anything. This wasn’t the first time that he had nothing to his name but the need to leave. Jester hovered over him as he prepared to leave the ship. Though to be fair, she was his ride around.

“It’s been nice,” Caleb said. “And who knows, maybe we’ll see each other again.”

Jester nodded. She was trying so hard to seem so happy and cheerful, but there was a distinct feeling that it was all in all an act. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

“I’m ready to disembark if you are,” Caleb said.

“Okay.” Her voice sounded small and distant. He couldn’t mean that much to her. Maybe she just never liked goodbyes. Jester picked him up, but it was stiffer than usual.

Caleb wrapped an arm around her shoulders to keep himself steady. “Danke. For everything.”

“You’re welcome,” Jester said.

“Wait!” Nott ran up to Jester and Caleb. “Please don’t go. I don’t know why you have to go.”

Caleb frowned. “I don’t wish to be a burden.”

“You’re the best navigator I’ve ever seen,” Nott said. “And that’s not a compliment I give lightly.”

Jester bit her lip. “Is it because we know your secret?”

Caleb stared at her, or at least what he could see of her, and then looked away. “I-”

“I don’t see what the big deal is. So what we found you in a cryofreezer,” Jester said her arms trembling. “You’re our friend now and it doesn’t matter.”

“Jester, such technology doesn’t exist. It’s legend, mythology. If such a thing did exist and they found the man who used it, what do you think they’d do to him?” Caleb asked.

Jester shrugged jostling him. “I’d asked him questions,” Nott said. “See how it impacted him and his memory.”

“And after that?” Caleb asked.

“A medical exam?” Jester sounded uncertain.

Caleb shook his head. He didn’t want to talk about it, but they had to know. They needed to know why he had to disappear. “An autopsy.” Just like those poor cats that went in before him. “I was scheduled to be dissected an hour after I came out of the freezer.”

“What?” Jester’s arms almost went slack, and she nearly dropped Caleb. “But, what?”

Nott looked pale. “Who would do that?”

“Dr. Trent Ikithon would. Especially to a criminal such as myself,” Caleb said.

“What did you do?” Jester asked.

Caleb shook his head. “It was a protest gone wrong. I was trying to stop it. Stand up for the empire, but then a fire started in the station.” Both Nott and Jester gasped. They knew how serious a fire on a station could be. “I couldn’t stop it and I can’t remember all that happened that day. I think I may have started it, but I’m not certain. But all the blame was placed on me. Like a coward, I tried to run, but I was caught eventually and given to Dr. Trent Ikithon. I studied under him once. A brilliant mind.”

“So they were going to kill you for a crime you might not have even committed?” Nott asked.

“A crime is a crime and must be punished,” Caleb said. “I deserved what I had coming, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and waste this second chance. Which is why I can’t stay here.”

“I call bull$#@%,” Beau said from behind Caleb and Jester.

Caleb stared at her. “It really did happen.”

“Not on that, on ditching us” Beau rolled her eyes. “You think you’re the only one who has ran afoul with the law here? Join the club.”

“Yeah, I’m banned at my home station and we can’t go anywhere near Felderwin because of Nott,” Jester said.

The little goblin nodded proudly.

“Sounds like everyone after you are long dead anyways,” Fjord said. “So you don’t have anything to fear.”

Caleb snorted. “If anyone found out that such technology is actually viable even in your forgotten wasteland of tech, I’d be considered a commodity. A rarity. Especially since I know how the cryofreezer works.”

Beau frowned. “Why is it so important?”

“Think about it. It’s the first step to immortality,” Caleb said. “Let’s say someone with sufficient funds became ill and there was no cure. All they’d have to do is go in the freezer, wait for the cure to be found, then they’d get unfrozen, and cured.”

Nott frowned. “That’s great but it’s got some major kinks to work out.” She waved at Caleb’s legs.

“Ja, but I was just supposed to be in for a few weeks, not for nearly two centuries,” Caleb said.

“So, it shouldn’t be a big deal if you stay with us,” Jester said. “Since it’s not the territories anymore, then the law that is after you isn’t here anymore.”

Caleb shook his head. “I’m still a guilty man.”

“You don’t even know if it was your fault. Culpable deniability,” Beau said.

“And since we know what happened to you, we’re ready if anyone comes looking for you,” Nott said.

Jester nodded. “Yeah, you’d be safer with us.”

“I’ve always been in favor of the buddy system,” Cad said.

“Do you even trust me?” Caleb asked.

There was hemming and hawing all about. “Not really, but it’s not like you trust us yet,” Nott said. “That stuff takes time. Besides it’s not like we’re asking you to marry us. Just stick around for another station.”

“Just one station?” Caleb asked.

“This is too big of a station,”Beau said. “You’d be remembered here. You can leave at the next one.”

Caleb was about to point out the flaw in her logic, but he looked around. This was actually a good ship and a good crew. And if Caleb was being honest with himself, he actually wanted to stay with them. “Alright, one more station.” And maybe another after that. Forever was more than he could ever promise too, but one more station? He could handle staying for one more station.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY CRAP! I'M UPDATING THIS FIC! On Widojest Week all miracles are possible!

Zadash was both like and unlike Rexxentrum. The station was busy and full of people, but it was more than just humans now. There were all sorts of halflings, gnomes, and elves along with humans. Caleb had only seen a couple other races in his whole time in Rexxentrum, but now it appeared to be the norm. He did however notice that his companions were the only ones of their species there.

They all drew eyes to themselves, especially Jester carrying Caleb. He didn’t know if it was because of what she was, the fact that Caleb had to be carried, or how easily she carried him skipping about barely jostling him.

“So how do you like Zadash so far, Caleb?” Jester asked.

“There’s a lot of people here,” he said looking around. The streets and the shops looked the same, but much older. It was one of those stations made to look and feel like a city. Everything was fake and felt like it, but there was a time where it was home and perfect.

Jester nodded. “Yep! And they have bear claws, but not like they do in Nicodranas. Nicodranian bear claws use cinnamon.”

“Ah,” Caleb said softly. “And Nicodranas is another station?”

“Nope! It’s a planet! There a bunch of beaches and the weather is super pretty and my mom lives there. We should go there sometime. I mean I’m technically banned, but we could sneak in.”

Caleb looked up at her. She looked happy enough, but something felt off about it. “You’ll need to show it to me then.”

Jester smiled and Caleb could feel his heart still for a moment. She was pretty or perhaps it was just that her species was pretty. “I will, but first I’ll need to show you the bear claws here.”

“Hey, Jester,” Fjord said and Jester spun around. Cleb’s head spun a little from the sudden shift.

“Yeah, Fjord?” she asked. Jester grinned, flashing her fangs at Fjord. She did that a lot and Caleb couldn’t help but notice that she never flashed her fangs at him. It probably meant nothing except that she liked Fjord more than him. A reasonable thing and Caleb couldn’t blame her. Fjord was handsome, brave, and a leader. The opposite of Caleb. Also, Jester didn’t have to carry Fjord everywhere.

The half-orc frowned and shifted in place. “Beau and I are gonna sell the tech we found. You fine with taking Caleb shopping? Cad said he might’ve found a shop that sells what we were talking about earlier.”

“I thought I was going to help you with selling this time?” Jester asked, a little disappointed sounding.

Fjord rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, ‘bout that-”

“You’re still on the shop’s banned list for the dicks last time,” Beau said interrupting Fjord.

“It was only one dick,” Jester huffed.

Fjord looked away. “It’s still probably for the best for just the two of us to take care of the shopping. Maybe at the next station.”

Jester frowned slightly, but she got rid of it quickly and nodded. “Okay, the next station. I’ll go with Cad and Caleb this time.”

“And me,” Nott said shrilly. “You’re going to need my help.”

Jester’s smile seemed to become more sincere. Caleb had the perfect spot to see all the subtle changes of her face. “Right! We’re going to have a super fun time.” She skipped off to join Caduceus.

Caleb frowned a little. “What were you talking about? What are you getting?”

“Well, we’re not getting it quite yet cause we haven’t got our money yet, so we’re just going to pick it out,” Jester said.

“Your new engine, then?” Caleb asked. It seemed like the most reasonable thing to get first.

Nott shook her head. “Nah, we can get that later.”

“Then what is it?” Caleb didn’t like being left in the dark. A fact that he was well aware made him a hypocrite.

“A surprise!” Jester declared once they got to Caduceus.

The giant stood almost more than a head over the crowd and more than one passerby craned their necks looking up at him. It didn’t seem to bother Caduceus at all, but to be fair, most things didn’t seem to bother him. “Um, Caduceus?” Caleb asked.

“Yes, Mr. Caleb?”

“Stop me if this is an inappropriate question, but what are you?” Caleb asked.

Caduceus scratched his chin. “Oh, I’m the ships’ chef.”

Jester grinned. “Cad,I think he was asking what species are you.”

“Oh, firbolg,” Caduceus said.

Caleb sat up a little straighter. “Really? In the terri- in the empire? I thought that firbolgs never left their planet let alone fly throughout the stars.” It grabbed at his curiosity.

Caduceus shrugged. “Some don’t. My family has though.”

“Oh,” Caleb said. He wasn’t sure with Caduceus if that was an invitation to ask more questions or the end of that conversation, so Caleb sided with caution and stopped the questions that sprung to his mind.

“Cad’s super cool and stuff. We’ve only met one other firbolg, but she’s not really the traveling type,” Jester said.

The streets they were going down were slowly morphing from streets to corridors and the quality of structures surrounding them were declining. Caleb had never gone this far through the station when it was Rexxentrum. Down here there were more people from Fjord’s and Nott’s species, but Caleb hadn’t seen any of Jester’s. “Is your kind as rare as Caduceus’s, Jester?” Caleb asked.

“Ummm? Kinda?” Jester bit her lip a little. “See, ummmm, how to put this? Right, so sometimes, no wait, um, you know about mutations and stuff?”

“Ja?” Caleb said slowly. “I think there were a few scientists working on that sort of thing in the outpost.”

Jester smiled nervously. “Good, cause I don’t really know how to explain that. So, you know how some mutations just randomly occur in different people and stuff?” Caleb nodded. “Like 150 years ago, some babies were born with horns an’ tails and stuff, but their parents were totally human. This was like on some random planets mainly, but it kinda spread since then cause those with the tails and horns started traveling about cause we’re super free-spirits.”

“So you’re actually human,” Caleb said. It was hard to picture her without the blue skin or fangs or tail, but there were hints that suggested a human lineage.

“We’re actually tieflings. That’s what we like to be called. Like our bits are the same and we can have children with humans, but at our core, we’re not,” Jester said.

Caleb mulled this over. An entirely new species sprung out of humans while he was asleep. He could hardly believe how much things have changed, but the evidence was right in front of him. “And there’s not many tieflings, I take it.”

“I’ve only met one other than me and my mom,” Jester said. She smiled and her eyes shone, but her chin wobbled a little bit. “Molly’s the best, but he’s not here anymore.” Nott reached for Jester, but the tiefling kept going forward. “Come on, if we don’t hurry, they’re going to run out of all the cool ones before we get there.” Jester hurried her pace jostling Caleb more than she usually did.

The street was now full on an old broken down hallway and instead of buildings they were just rooms and shabby ones at that. Caduceus stopped in front of one. “This should be the place,” he said in his low rumbling voice.

A sign was tacked on the door saying ‘Zorth’s’. Nott knocked on the door and opened it, Jester following in behind her. The door was too low for Caduceus and the room too crowded as it was anyways. Sitting at a table was an elderly goblin working some kind of wheeled contraption. Only he didn’t have arms and was working on it with his feet. He looked up from his work desk when they entered. “Now, what do we have here?” he asked, sending spittle everywhere. “A customer?”

“Yeah,” Jester said brightly, “we’re here to get a chair for Caleb.”

“A chair?” Caleb asked looking up at Jester, but she didn’t seem to notice him.

The old goblin smiled. “Then it’s a good thing you’ve came to my shop. The name’s Zorth and I’ve got the finest chairs in the galaxy.”

“We’ve got chairs in the ship,” Caleb whispered. “There can’t be room for anymore in the ship.”

Jester giggled. “Not that kind of chair, silly. Do you have anything that would work in a ship? The one we got is a WC class.”

Zorth rubbed his chin with a foot. “Hmmm, I got something that would work for that, but it will cost you a pretty penny.” He snapped his toes and a couple of young goblins scurried out from under the table. “Get the Scuttle S! Go on, get!” The young goblins scrambled into the back and all sorts of clattering sounds came from back there. “So are you lot from this area?” Zorth asked Jester and Nott.

“We’re from all around,” Nott said. “We do pretty good for ourselves though. But, maybe you can show us one of your cheaper models too?”

“Of course, no shame in that. Most folk can’t afford the Scuttle S. Especially, if you don’t mind me saying, dressed the way you are,” Zorth said.

Caleb was suddenly aware of the fact that he was in his pajamas still. No of his clothes would’ve survived so long uncared for, so he had nothing else other than the pajamas Dr. Ikithon had dressed him in. He could feel his cheeks turn red.

His embarrassment was interrupted by the return of the two young goblins. They carried with them a golden metallic seat. It had a low back and looked fairly comfortable. Jester frowned. “Is this a hover chair?”

“A hover chair?” Caleb asked and then it clicked. They were getting a mobility chair for him. He didn’t blame Jester for no longer wanting to carry him, but even a plain wheelchair was expensive. One that hovered must’ve been unthinkable in price. Not that he’d trust anything that hovered. Hover anythings were notorious for being unreliable.

Zorth snorted. “Oh goodness. You might as well strap him to a bomb. And why waste a perfectly good young man like that. The Scuttle S is much better than that.” He pressed a button with his big toe and six long, spindly legs popped out of the bottom of it. It brought a spider to Caleb’s mind. “Go on, give it a spin.”

Caleb gulped staring at it. Frumpkin rolled out of his pocket into Caleb’s hand whirring. The chair made it all the more real. If Jester just carried him around, it meant that his not being able to walk was a temporary problem and could possibly go away. But the chair was a permanent solution to a permanent problem.

“Are you ready Caleb?” Jester asked gently.

He really wasn’t, but Caleb nodded anyways, “Ja.”

“Okay, Caleb. One, two, three!” And Jester set him in the chair. “You all set there?”

“Ja, I think so.” The chair wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was unfamiliar. There was a small little armrest with little controls on it. Hesitantly, Caleb pressed some of them. And the chair skittered forward almost as smooth as ice. “Oh.”

Zorth smiled. “I see you’re discovering why the Scuttle S is so popular. State of the art even by 200 years ago standards.”

Caleb had to nod at that. “I can see. How much is it?”

The number Zorth told them made Caleb’s blood go cold. It was far too high.

“I’ll take care of this,” Nott said, putting a reassuring hand on Caleb’s arm before switching over to goblin.

Jester leaned over to Caleb’s ear. “There’s been a lot of inflation since you went to sleep.”

“So it’s actually cheap?” Caleb asked.

“Well, it’s still super expensive, but with all that we got from the outpost, we should be able to afford it.” But Jester didn’t sound completely certain.

Nott finished speaking in goblin. “Jester, you still have that ‘special item’?”

Jester grinned mischievously. “Oh, I got it.” With a great amount of fanfare, she pulled a small statue of a dick out of her pocket.

“See?” And Nott went back to goblin.

“Do I want to know how or why?” Caleb asked.

Jester shrugged. “Don’t know. We get bored sometimes.”

The two young goblins came out from the back rolling an old wheelchair. It appeared to work well and it didn’t look uncomfortable, but it wouldn’t be useful at all on the ship. Caleb could already tell that the Shuttle S could be used on any surface.

“Want me to help you into it?” Jester asked.

Caleb was tempted to try it on his own, but he knew that if he did his first time in one of these chairs, he’d just fall over. “Ja.”

Jester made lifting him up seem so easy and maybe it was for her. It was just embarrassing for him. “There you go.”

“Danke.” The wheelchair was nothing compared to the Scuttle S, but if it was all they could afford, then Caleb would just have to manage. And it would mean that Jester would still have to carry him around the ship. A blush covered his face. He could feel himself getting attached to her. Something that if he was smart he’d never do, and Caleb prided himself on his intelligence.

“That’s the economy option. It works, but you won’t be able to use it everywhere,” Zorth said. “It’s only 500 gold.” Cheap compared to the first chair, but it still made Caleb’s stomach drop.

Nott rubbed her chin. “That’s not too bad, but could you do better?” She switched back to goblin.

Caleb leaned over to Jester. “You can’t get me either of these.”

“Why not? You will need one.”

“Well ja, but they’re so expensive and I can’t pay you back,” Caleb said.

Jester waved him off. “We want to get this for you. You’re our new navigator after all.”

“Temporary navigator,” Caleb pointed out. “I don’t know if I’m going to be staying around after the next station.

A frowned flickered across Jester’s face. “You’re not?”

Caleb looked away from her. “I’m not the safest person to be around.”

“Well, we’ll keep you safe then,” Jester said.

“It’s not so simple,” Caleb said. “Nothing’s simple. And I can’t just take your charity like this.”

Jester stared him in the eye. “So, you’re saying that you’d owe us then?”

“Ja, I would.”

Jester grinned. “Then you’d have to work it off as our navigator.”

Caleb turned his head. “I don’t know if I can handle thinking farther ahead than one more station. It’s a complicated world now, and I do not want to make it more complicated for you.”

“So if you did have to leave after the next station, you could still remember us and pay us back when you can,” Jester said. It was a little sad sounding.

“I suppose I could.” Caleb stared down at his hands. “I already owe you so much. More than I can pay back or thank you for.”

Jester shook her head. “No, you don’t. It was just a ride. It’s not like we could just ditch you there at an old abandoned outpost.”

“Nein, it’s more than that. If it weren’t for you, I’d still be back there forgotten in an old tube, everyone who ever knew about me dead. Jester, you saved me a poor, miserable fate,” Caleb said.

She stared at him with wide shocked eyes. “Really? But-”

“No one was ever coming back for me, and if they did, I’d be dead ma-”

He was cut off by Nott clearing her throat. “Beau and Fjord are nearly here and they have the money. And Zorth and I have came to an agreement.”

Zorth grinned. “This fine young lady drives a hard bargain.” Spittle landed on everyone’s face.

“Great!” Jester winced and then smiled after wiping her face off.

“Curious thing though,” Zorth said. “I’ve some strange accents in my time, but never one quite like yours.” He looked at Caleb.

Caleb stuttered for a moment before gathering himself. “This isn’t my first language. I’ve traveled from a long ways away.”

“Ah, just what I was thinking. That’s some one from far away. I knew I was mistaken in thinking that your accent was from a language that should be dead,” Zorth said.

Jester and Nott stared at Caleb nervously. “Ja, just a coincidence I suppose,” Caleb said.

Zorth nodded. “That’s just so, but if I had an accent like that, I’d try to hide it.”

“I’m not very good at accents,” Caleb said more to himself than anyone else. Being quiet would be a wise decision for him.

The door opened and Fjord and Beau came in. “Have you made your choice yet?” Fjord asked.

“Maybe,” Nott said nonchalantly. “Were you successful at your stop?”

Fjord leaned down and whispered in Nott’s large ear. Nott’s eyes slowly grew. “We’ll take the Scuttle S!”

Caleb blanched. “Isn’t that one too expensive?”

“Oh trust me,” Nott said, “we can afford it.”

Beau took care of paying Zorth while Jester put Caleb back in the Scuttle S. “There you go!” Jester said cheerfully. “You should name it something cool. Like the Ball Eater!”

Caleb ran his hand over the armrest. “Jannick. I’m calling it Jannick.”

* * *

Caleb had gotten hang of his new chair quickly. It almost looked like a bug to Jester, but it moved quickly and Caleb was able to keep up with the rest of them. He was talking animatedly to Beau about the price changes since he had been asleep.

Meanwhile, Jester was hanging back thinking. It had been a while since she thought about Molly, nearly two weeks. She’d never gone so long without thinking about him and it felt like a betrayal. Molly used to be the center of her thoughts even before he had died. Well, Fjord also figured a lot in her thoughts, but Molly was super important to her too. And now she was barely even thinking about him. Jester shook her head. There was no way Molly would want her to dwell on sad things like that.

“Are you okay?” Nott asked softly.

Jester grinned brightly. “Yeah! Why wouldn’t I be?”

Nott shrugged. “Don't know. Just seemed like you had your Molly face on.”

“I don’t have a Molly face,” Jester said a bit too quickly.

“It’s okay if you still miss him,” Nott said. “We all do.”

Jester wanted to hide away. She hated being sad around other people. Her job was to keep up everyone’s spirits and she couldn’t do that while she was sad. “I know. It’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine, Nott.”

Nott just gave her a look. “If you need to talk about it, you know I’m here, right?”

“Yeah.” Jester pasted on her biggest smile. Not that she’d ever burden Nott like that.

“Good,” Nott said before jogging ahead to harass Fjord.

It was getting to be what was designated as night on the station, but it was still fairly active. There were always ships docking and leaving at all hours and they always needed supplies, food, and places to sleep. “Hey! We actually made big bucks right?”

“Yeah,” Fjord said. “The engine will deplete it though, but we’ll be able to sit pretty for a good while.”

Beau frowned. “We would’ve made more money if Caleb let us sell the hard drives along with everything else.”

Caleb didn’t meet her eye. “I want to check them first. There might be something important in their memories.”

“We don’t want to hand over something incriminating Caleb for just a few bucks,” Nott said.

“Besides we still have a lot of money right? Then we can actually sleep in an inn and sleep in real beds for once,” Jester said.

Beau popped her back. “That sounds good to me.”

“I guess so,” Fjord said. “But we don’t want to go too crazy with spending. Who knows when our next big job will be.”

“We can go back to the outpost,” Nott said.

Jester grinned. “Yeah!”

“I’m not so sure that that’s such a good idea,” Caleb said. “We don’t know if we’d be followed. Or if someone has been watching it.”

“Why would anyone be watching it?” Jester asked. “Everyone who knew about it is dead right?”

An uncomfortable look crossed Caleb’s face. “Still we don’t want to risk anything.”

“I think we can risk one more trip there,” Fjord said. “It’s worth the gamble.”

“So we can go back there tomorrow after we get the engine and tonight we’ll sleep in the inn,” Jester said.

Caleb frowned. “I’ll just stay in the ship.”

“Cay-leb,” Jester whined, “We’ve been in there for two weeks and are just going right back to being stuck in the ship tomorrow. Don’t you want to go somewhere with actually space?”

“I’d rather stay in an environment I’m used to.”

Nott shook her head. “You know us. Isn’t that enough for you?”

Caleb petted Frumpkin in his lap. “It’s not like I can feel the bed. I’ll be fine on the ship. But don’t let that stop the rest of you from going to the inn. You deserve it.”

“This isn’t about money again is it?” Jester asked.

Caleb shook his head. “Nein. I just want to sleep on the ship.”

“Do you want me to join you?” Nott asked.

“Nein. You enjoy the inn. It’s been longer since you’ve had a real bed than it has for me.”

Jester was tempted to point out that he hadn’t had a real bed for nearly two hundred years, but it felt a little pointless. He had that bland expression on his face that she couldn’t read, but she had a feel that she couldn’t argue against him. “Let’s get you to the ship then.”

The slightest hint of a smile crossed his face. “Danke.”

It was growing louder the closer they got to the shipyard. The city’s hub was there, and it never seemed to sleep. Screens were all over the place advertising this and that, and occasionally there was one that Caleb would ask about, curious on what was new. Well, not new, it seemed like there was nothing new anymore, but changed. Suddenly, all the screens went blank and a news alert flashed on it.

“Ugh,” Beau groaned. “Let’s see what kind of bulls%$^ propaganda they’re forcing down our throats this time.”

“Dwendalian News. King Dwendal has this to say.” The gross old face of Kind Dwendal appeared on the screen. He was kinda jaundiced and yellow looking, covered with liver spots. Jester stuck her tongue at him.

They kept walking on, but Caleb was frozen in his chair not moving forward only staring at the king on the screen. “Caleb?” Jester asked. “Are you okay?”

Caleb looked chalky pale. “That’s not King Dwendal.”

“What are you talking about?” Fjord asked. “Of course it is.”

“Caleb, things have changed a lot. It’s not the king Dwendal that started the empire, but he is a king Dwendal,” Jester said. “I don’t think his family is very creative when it comes to names.”

Caleb shook his head trembling. “Nein. That’s no King Dwendal. That’s Dr. Ikithon.”

“What are you talking about?” Beau asked her temper rising. “Are you crazy or something?”

“That is the last face I saw before going into cryofreeze. I know what I’m talking about. That is Dr. Ikithon.”

Nott bit her lip. “But he should’ve died decades ago.”

“Ja, ja I know.” Caleb kept shaking harder and harder, breathing heavy. “He should be dead, he should be dead and so should I, but we’re still here.”

“Maybe he’s just his descendant,” Fjord said.

Caleb jabbed his finger at the screen. “There is no way that that is not the same person.”

“You were frozen for a long time,” Cad said gently. “Maybe your memory is off.”

“My memory is eidetic. I will never forget that face!”

Fjord held up his hands placatingly looking around nervously. “Maybe we should take this somewhere more private.”

Caleb stared at them like he was trying to will them to listen to him. “You have to believe me.”

“Caleb, it’s not very likely, is it?” Jester asked. “I mean you’re a miracle being here, but there shouldn’t be any way he’s Dr. Ikithon. He’s the king. Maybe you’re remembering wrong.” Jester put her hand on Caleb’s arm and he jerked it away.

“That man tortured me! You don’t forget that!” Caleb spat.

Jester took a step back. “What?”

“He’s a sadist and a monster and he rules you! No place is safe here!” he yelled.

Fjord looked around at the crowd they were starting to gang. “Come on guys, I think that’s enough going through your lines for tonight. I’m liking the energy, but let’s save it for tomorrow’s rehersal.” He smiled disarmingly at the crowd. “Be sure to get tickets for Zemnian Nights, folks. It’s sure to be a classic.” The crowd dispersed and Fjord sagged. “Let’s save this for the ship.”

* * *

There was a tight tension to all of them once they got back to the MISTake. Caelb could barely think straight. The only good part of being stuck in that awful freezer was knowing that Ikithon was dead. But there he was for all to see and a king of all things, and no one believed Caleb.

“Can’t we have one trip off the ship without a disaster? Just one,” Fjord groaned.

“With us? Not likely,” Beau said.

Jester stayed close to Caleb, but he couldn’t look at her. He’d thought that at least her or Nott would believe him. But it looked like that wasn’t happening.

“Sooooooooooooooo,” Jester said. “At least we got our money and Caleb’s new chair.”

“The ruler of the empire is a monster and none of you care?” Caleb said.

Beau rolled her eyes. “It’s not that we don’t care. It’s that we don’t believe you. There’s a difference.”

Fjord put his head in his hands. “Beau, what did I tell you about tact?”

“I’ll go put the kettle on,” Caduceus said.

“Why don’t any of you believe me?” Caleb asked.

Jester fiddled with her skirt. “It’s kind of a lot to take in you know? I mean this would make him like 250 years old at least and that should be impossible. And you were in there for a long time. Maybe it played with your memory.”

“And the damage it did to me just so happened to make Dr. Ikithon look just like your king? That’s even less likely,” Caleb said. He didn’t even know why he kept trying. They were never going to believe him.

“Do you have a picture of him?” Nott asked.

Caleb stared at her. “Where would I be hiding it?”

“I mean, would there be a picture of him somewhere on the outpost?” Nott asked. “When we go back there, maybe you could show it to us.”

He gave it some thought. “Possibly.”

“So that settles it? We’re going back to that outpost?”

“Ja, it may be dangerous, but I need to prove this,” Caleb said.

Beau stared at him. “Why? If you think it’s dangerous to go back there, then why risk it? For your pride?”

Caleb frowned at her. “Do you even know what he’s capable of? What a man like him could do with the amount of power he has?”

“It doesn’t impact us though,” Beau pointed out.

“Isn’t this your home, though? Your people? Isn’t that worth keeping safe?” Caleb asked.

Beau shrugged. “Well yeah, but even if we knew that your Dr. Ikithon is really King Dwendal, what difference does that make? What can we do?”

Caleb sagged in his seat. “I don’t know, but we can’t go blithely in ignorance. We have to know what kind of danger is in store for the empire.”

“Why do you care?” Fjord asked. “This isn’t your home and people, not anymore.”

Caleb sighed. “Ja, you’re right. My people and home are dead. And have been for a long time. It’s no longer the same people, but they came from my people. You came from my people.”

Everyone stared at him and he ducked his head down. “That’s what I think at least. But, if you don’t want to go, I’ll understand. I’ll see if I can lure some treasure hunters to go there.”

“Hey, no one said we wouldn’t go,” Beau said. “I just wanted to know that we weren’t going just because your pride’s been hurt. We’re worth more than some man’s pride.”

“Ja, you are,” Caleb said softly.

Fjord rubbed the back of his neck. “Now that we got that over with, let’s go to the inn and sleep in a proper bed.”

Caleb stared down at his lap. “I’ll just stay here.”

“I’ll stay here too,” Jester said. “The rest of you have fun at the inn.”

The others left with little fanfare. Nott waved at both of them as they closed the ship’s door.

“You really don’t have to stay with me here,” Caleb said. “I’ll be fine on my own. You can probably still catch up with the others.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Jester said. “Besides, I don’t know if you even know how to get in and out of bed yet on your own with that thing yet. I can help you with that.”

Caleb’s cheeks turned red. “I can figure it out on my own.”

“Well, sure, but it’s easier when you have a friend to help you,” Jester said,

“Danke.” Frumpkin weaved in and out of Caleb’s hands. “I’m sorry.”

Jester shook her head. “I told you, it’s fine. I don’t mind staying here with you.”

Caleb stared at her and then shook his head. “Nein, that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean I’m sorry for getting you caught up in my worries and problems. It’s not fair of me.”

“But that’s what friends are for. If something’s bothering you, then you should tell someone,” Jester said.

“I’m not very good at that sort of thing. I hate being a burden,” Caleb said. He had a feeling that Jester might’ve been the same, keeping things on the inside.

Jester leaned over to the side. “Cay-leb. No one’s a burden. We’re here to help each other.”

“Maybe you could show me then,” Caleb said. It seemed like there had been something bothering her. But maybe he was overstepping some unknown boundary.

“Oh.” Jester frowned, staring down at her feet. “Right. Good point.”

Caleb reached toward her and then stopped himself. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. You can just forget I even suggested it.”

Jester shook her head, but it was a slow and deliberate action for once. “No, you do have a point there. I lost someone special, well, all of us here did. And I guess I should talk to someone about it. But it’s hard you know?”

“Ja, I know,” Caleb said.

“And I know it’s petty to talk to you about it since you lost a lot more than I have,” Jester said. “I shouldn’t bother you about it.”

This time Caleb did grab her hand. “Nein, tell me. I want to know what’s bothering you.”

Jester sat down on one of the bunks and turned to face the wall. “His name was Molly. Well, it was actually Mollymauk, but he had everyone just call him Molly. And he was the first tiefling I ever met. I mean besides me and my mom. Molly was super cool and amazing. He could see the future.”

“He could?” Caleb never heard of someone capable of such things.

“Yeah. He had tarot cards and he’d shuffle them and draw some and tell you all about the future and stuff.”

That Caleb had heard of. “Oh.”

“But, Molly was the real deal. He was cool and like a god almost. All shiny and knowing about things.” Jester sighed. “He was a good friend. He’d hang all sorts of ornaments off his horns and they looked so cool.”

“You have ornaments on yours too,” Caleb said.

Jester shrugged. “Well, yeah, but I did it before I met Molly. But on Molly they were cool. Me it’s just cute.”

“So you wish that you were more like him?” Caleb asked.

“Kinda, but not really. He was super adult, you know. Like I know that I’m an adult, but he had it all together.” She brought her knees to her chest. “I just wish that he was still here.”

“Can I ask what happened to him?”

Jester shivered.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Caleb said quickly.

“No, it’s fine. Molly, he died. Trying to save me and Fjord and another friend of ours. There were these pirates, well more like slavers? And they took me, Fjord, and our friend Yasha, and Molly died saving us.” Jester sunk down a little. “I know that Molly wouldn’t want me to be sad over him dying, but I didn’t get to say goodbye or anything, and the jerk who did it is still out there doing stupid jerk things.”

Quietly, Caleb set Frumpkin on the bed willing him to comfort Jester. The little robot rolled over to her whirring a soft purr. “I’m sorry.”

Jester ran her hands over the robot. “It’s okay. It’s not like it was your fault. And your jerk guy might still be out there too.”

“Ja,” Caleb said, the thought still chilling his blood.

“I hope we can stop them both. It’s not our responsibility, I know that, but it feels like they just keep hurting people.”

Caleb nodded. “That’s true.”

Frumpkin rolled up Jester’s arm and changed into his cat form, rubbing against her cheek. “But even if we stop them, there’ll still be jerks in the galaxy.”

“Ja,” Caleb said. It was easy to feel powerless in this new galaxy.

“And I wonder if I can ever go home again or see my mom.”

“We’ll get you home,” he said. “No matter what, we’ll get you to your mother again.”

Jester turned to look at him. Her eyes shined with unshed tears. “You mean it?

"Of course," Caleb said. Part of him wished to touch her, but he'd just screw things up he knew it. "You deserve to see her again."

"You'd like her. My mom's the best and super pretty," Jester said.

Caleb smiled slightly. "She must be to have a daughter as lovely as you."

Jester laughed. "Don't tease me like that, Caleb. I'm not that pretty."

"If you say so." But it was a lie. Jester was beautiful and amazing, and Caleb knew he could never have her, but maybe he could make her smile. That would be more than enough for him.

* * *

It was weird being back on the outpost. It only took them ten days after they got the new engine. The trip was the quietest machine wise on the MISTake and the engine ran so smoothly. Jester loved it.

Caleb was quiet though. It was normal for him to be a little quiet, but it was obvious that he spent the trip deep in thought. "Are you worried?" Jester asked as they went through the halls of the outpost.

"Nein," Caleb said. "It's fine."

"It's just this was where they were going to - you know?"

Caleb smirked. "You mean where they were going to cut me open to see what they can learn from my organs?"

Jester blanched. "You don't have to be so gross about it."

"Oh, sorry," he said softly. "It feels odd to be searching for answers here. I thought that all I wanted to do with this place was forget all about it, and now we're looking for Dr. Ikithon."

"What was he like?" Jester asked.

Caleb turned to look at her. "What was he like?"

"You said he taught you once. You sounded like you learned a lot from him," Jester said.

"Oh. Ja, I learned a lot from him. He was a genius and I learned so much from him. But he was also a cruel man and one that it was hard to keep your balance with. One moment he was yelling at me for making some simple and foolish mistake, and the next he'd be apologizing so gently to me." Caleb sighed. "It took me a long while to realize that he was not a good man, but by that time I was nearly under glass."

Jester glanced at him. "Oh. What was it like being frozen?"

Caleb stopped. “Terrifying. You’re trapped with no way out. There was an injection first, but it didn’t knock me out, only paralyzed me. So I was awake for the process, but I couldn't feel it."

“Why would anyone do that?” Jester asked, her voice shaking.

Caleb shrugged. “Hard to say. Could’ve been that the anesthetic would have prevented the freezing from working properly or could’ve been that Dr. Ikithon was a masochist. I don’t know enough about the process to say.”

Jester frowned. The others were getting stuff they could sell while Jester and Caleb tried to find pictures or something of Dr. Ikithon’s. “I know I should believe you, but I think I’d rather not have Dr. Ikithon ruling over the entire empire.”

“Ja, I’d have to agree with you there.” Caleb stared down the hallway. “His office is down this way.”

Their footsteps echoed eerily down the hallway ( well Jester’s did and so did the skittering of Jannick). “I’ve always hated this place,” Caleb said. “Even before being frozen.”

“You were here before?”

“Ja, I was Dr. Ikithon’s student,” Caleb said. “It wasn’t a good time.”

Jester nodded. “I would think not.”

He stopped in front of a door. “Here it is.”

Jester gulped. It was just a normal door, but she didn’t want to think about what could be behind it.

“Well, standing out here does nothing,” Caleb said, opening the door. It was only a normal office. Desk, chair, computer. A little disappointing. Caleb went straight to the computer and worked on turning it on.

Jester looked around the room. The lights overhead were dim and buzzed loudly. “Have you ever been in here before?”

“A couple of times, ja,” Caleb said not looking up from the computer. “Not too often though. He tended to save closeness as a reward.”

“And you weren’t a favorite,” Jester said.

Caleb looked up. “Actually, I thought I was, but he was a hard man to be close to.”

Jester stared at an old picture frame thickly covered in dust. “I’m glad you’re not with him anymore.”

“Ja, me too,” Caleb said. He growled at the computer. “Come on, just turn on.”

Jester looked over at the computer while she wiped the dust off the picture. “Old tech’s the best, but you gotta fix it up if it’s not usually used.”

Caleb scowled. “Unfortunately.” He turned off the computer, opened it up, and took out the harddrive and memory.

“I don’t think there’s anything else in here,” Jester said. She looked down at the picture and dropped it with a gasp. The glass broke with a crash.

“Jester!” Caleb was next to her in a hurry. “Are you okay?”

Jester nodded stiffly, still staring at the picture. “Is that Dr. Ikithon?”

Caleb picked it up. “Ja it is.”

“Then he really is the king.”

* * *

The cabin of the MISTake was full of tension. Jester and Cad stood outside of it listening in.

Beau cursed. “You’re right! I hope you’re happy,” she spat out at Caleb.

“You think that I wanted this?” Caleb asked. “Going mad would be better than this.”

“So what do we do now?” Jester asked, sounding small.

Fjord snorted. “Stay the hell away from Zadash. Hell, the whole Empire.”

Nott rolled her eyes. “There’s no such thing.”

“There is the dynasty,” Caduceus added helpfully.

Caleb shivered at the thought of it. “That’s not an option,” Beau said.

“There’s the outer boundaries,” Jester said. “We could visit my mom!”

“Aren’t you banned from there?”

Jester made a dismissive sound. “It doesn’t really count.”

Argument and debate filled the room as Caleb idly looked over the map. Most of the names they threw about meant nothing to Caleb. A ping picked up on the scanner. He frowned down at it. They should be alone in this sector given the quarantine over it, but the scanner picked up on the ping again. It appeared to be another ship, but that really should’ve been impossible. “Ah, guys?” Caleb asked. The arguing continued. “Um, Nott is it normal for ships to be so big now?”

“What?” Nott looked at the scanner and turned a sickly color of green. “Oh no,” she whispered, “not again.”

“What not again?” Caleb asked watching the ship get closer to them. It was easily three times as big as the MISTake.

Nott was already running to the gun port. “CODE FLUFFERNUTTER!!”

Lights began flashing, and little ticker tape feeds spat out of the comm station. Beau stepped over Caleb to grab the ticker tape and swore even louder this time. “It’s Lorenzo!”

“I thought we lost that f$%*,” Fjord said turning on the engine and turning on other things too.

“What’s going on?” Caleb asked.

Jester stuck her head through the door. “Lorenzo was the one who killed Molly.” Her voice was small and meek.

“Jester, Cad, keep your eyes on the video feed and keep it locked on that BLASTED ship,” Fjord ordered. “Do you know any shortcuts out of here? Escape routes.”

Caleb nodded. “There is one, but it’s risky.”

Fjord stared at him and then nodded. “I’m fine with a gamble if the payoff’s good enough.”

“Alright then, but you have to follow my directions to the second,” Caleb said. “Beau set up a connection to channel BF 420 and send TM-BTS-69.”

Beau quickly entered in the code as Caleb brought up their path. “This has to be precise and exact. There’s no room for wiggling here. Go at a speed of exactly 0.36 lightspeed.”

Fjord stared at their designation. “That’s an asteroid. We’re flying directly into a wall.”

“Trust me. Now get going, they’re gaining on us,” Caleb said that pinging of the scanner growing more and more frequent.

There was grumbling, but Fjord got the MISTake going in the right direction. “I hope you know what you’re doing.” Caleb shared the sentiment.

The MISTake picked up speed and that asteroid drew closer at a rapid pace. “Beau send the message W2-J02-W0 the second I tell you to. Fjord you’ll need to make a hard right turn at the same.”

“AAAAHHHH!” Nott screamed. “They’re gaining on us!”

Caleb held up a hand watching the screen. His timing had to be perfect. Just as the MISTake went headlong into the massive asteroid, they went through a holographic wall. “Fjord, Beau! Now! And drop our speed.”

Fjord turned the ship quickly while Beau sent the command to bring back up the wall behind them. Seconds later there was a hollow boom that was felt more than heard and Nott looked up from her screen. “It’s gone! It blew up!”

“F#@%,” Fjord said softly.

“Keep flying,” Caleb said. “We’re still inside of an asteroid.”

Beau stared at the screen. “That actually worked.”

“Ja, I’m just as surprised as you are.” Caleb had thought that Dr. Ikithon would’ve changed the old security codes by now.

Jester bounded into the cockpit despite the cramped fit and hugged Caleb. “You did it! You saved us!”

Caleb froze in her arms, his face turning hot. “It, it was nothing.”

“No it wasn’t!” Jester said emphatically. “That was Lorenzo’s ship. You stopped a jerk!”

“Ja, I guess I did.” Caleb lowered his gaze too nervous to look her in the eye. He dared to look up at her and she flashed a fanged smile at him making his heart flutter. Maybe Caleb would stay on this ship beyond the next station after all.


End file.
